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November 26th, 2008

Apple forced to drop deceptive television ad in UK

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 6:55 am

Categories: 3G, iPhone

Tags: Apple iPhone, Advertisement, Apple Inc., TV, 3G, Cellular Phones, Wireless, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Jason D. O'Grady

Remember the kerfuffle over Apple’s “3G” television ad for the iPhone? In it the company demonstrates the speed of the iPhone on AT&T’s 3G network. As it turns out the ad was edited to exaggerate the speed of the iPhone 3G and the speed shown is impossible to replicate in the real world.

The television commercial was cleverly debunked in this YouTube video and Apple eventually added a tiny on-screen disclaimer that says “network performance will vary by location.”

Today the commercial was banned in the UK by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) which received 17 complaints that the ad was misleading for “exaggerating the speed of the iPhone 3G.”

Jason D. O'GradyJason D. O'Grady is the editor of PowerPage.org, which has been publishing daily mobile technology news since December 1995. For disclosures on Jason's industry affiliations, click here or to view Jason's full profile click here.

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  • Talkback
  • Most Recent of 31 Talkback(s)
ad Twice as fast not 3G all ad's False
so you think 3G Twice as fast no it's the ad that twice as fast.All so see I'm a PC made on a MAC the Vista ad... (Read the rest)
Posted by: Hotdoge3 Posted on: 12/08/08 You are currently: a Guest | | Terms of Use
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA  notlehs | 11/26/08
Good.  dcoaster | 11/26/08
Wha!?!?!  mikefarinha | 11/26/08
I wish people cared about...  Qbt | 11/26/08
Maybe people in the US  frgough | 11/26/08
Almost right, see Americans are so used to dishonesty...  T1Oracle | 11/26/08
OMG!  User07734 | 11/26/08
Liberal Techies are quite common...  914four | 12/02/08
RE: Apple forced to drop deceptive television ad in UK  tburzio | 11/26/08
Eh?  Bozzer | 11/26/08
Not only that, but...  Scrat | 11/26/08
Double "eh"  Fred Fredrickson | 11/26/08
Apple needs false advertising to sell their inferior products  NonZealot | 11/26/08
Right  frgough | 11/26/08
I don't know why Americans are so amazed with the iPhone...  transposeIT | 11/28/08
Assumption stated as fact  frgough | 11/26/08
Yours is the assumption...  Scrat | 11/26/08
Well said...  Sleeper Service | 12/01/08
Are you sure?  deaf_e_kate | 11/29/08
How much you want to bet  frgough | 11/26/08
New standards of logic  markbn | 11/26/08
Since HTC...  Sleeper Service | 12/01/08
I'm a Mac  NStalnecker | 11/26/08
Obviously they also complained that...  Fred Fredrickson | 11/26/08
*Sigh*  Sleeper Service | 12/01/08
Bang to rights  whisperycat | 11/27/08
RE: Apple forced to drop deceptive television ad in UK  Aerolex | 11/28/08
Since when did TV ads tell the truth anyway?  Laraine Anne Barker | 11/28/08
No kidding. False advertising is rampant.  shawkins | 11/29/08
OMG?  LeonBA | 12/01/08
ad Twice as fast not 3G all ad's False  Hotdoge3 | 12/08/08

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